No. 1 Baylor stops Florida with second-round win

The undefeated and No. 1 ranked Lady Bears had too much for the Gators.

The five starters for the Lady Bears scored in double figures as Baylor posted a 76-57 victory. Baylor, 36-0, advances to the Sweet 16 to face Georgia Tech in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday. Florida finishes 20-13.

"I told the girls when I got back to the locker room, we can't be upset with that," said Florida senior Azania Stewart. "We played the best team on the best floor and we gave them our best shot. So we walk out of here with our shoulders high and our heads up and we represented the University of Florida, and that's what I'm so proud of in my four years. I couldn't be any happier."

Stewart broke out in tears after the answer, adding, "I didn't want to cry."

Brittney Griner, Baylor's All-America, scored only eight points in the first half and finished with 25 points.

However, fans hoping to see the 6-feet-8 Griner dunk got their wish.

Baylor's Kimetria Hayden grabbed an offensive rebound and passed the ball to Griner, who dunked one-handed with 18:10 remaining in the game.

"That was a monster dunk, and it fired me up," said Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey. "We see it every day in practice, but that was pretty. That wasn't a barely-over-the-rim type of dunk."

Florida's front-line players, including Jennifer George from Bishop Moore High School in Orlando, tried to be physical with Griner, but she was too much for the Gators.

"She's a great player," Florida's Stewart said. "I just tried to get physical with her and push her out of the paint, out of her comfort zone.

"Her team looks for her and finds her very well," she added.

Stewart led Florida with 14 points, eight in the first half. Deana Allen came off the bench to score 13 points, and Lanita Bartley contributed 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

"You have to congratulate their kids and their coaches for the way they played, for the way they prepared, the way they competed. They showed a tremendous amount of consistency in their play this year, and there was no shortage of that tonight," said Florida head coach Amanda Butler.

With Griner clogging the middle, Florida had problems getting the ball inside. The Gators finished the game 23-of-70 from the field.

"Our offensive thought going into the game as a team was that we wanted to take shots that we wanted to take," Butler said. "If you were open and you felt good, then you have got to knock it down for us. And the thing we absolutely did not want was our kids to be hesitant.

"We didn't want to be hesitant, we didn't want to be scared about getting our shot blocked," Butler continued. "We wanted to take confident, strong looks, whether it was going to the rim, whether it was pulling up or shooting the three.

"And aside from Jennifer George deciding to take a three, she hit it, 1-for-1 for the year, I was pleased with all the shots we took because I thought we took them pretty confidently."